What Were You Thinking?

"Ruthless criticism  of all that exists." Hence, our motto must be: reform of consciousness not through dogmas, but by analysing the mystical consciousness that is unintelligible to itself, whether it manifests itself in a religious or a political form. It will then become evident that the world has long dreamed of possessing something of which it has only to be conscious in order to possess it in reality. It will become evident that it is not a question of drawing a great mental dividing line between past and future, but of  realising  the thoughts of the past. Lastly, it will become evident that mankind is not beginning a  new  work, but is consciously carrying into effect its old work.      - Karl Marx, letter to Arnold Ruge, 1844

"And thus, though surrounded by circle upon circle of consternations and affrights, did these inscrutable creatures at the centre freely and fearlessly indulge in all peaceful concernments; yea, serenely revelled in dalliance and delight. But even so, amid the tornadoed Atlantic of my being, do I myself still for ever centrally disport in mute calm; and while ponderous planets of unwaning woe revolve round me, deep down and deep inland there I still bathe me in eternal mildness of joy." "Moby-Dick, or The Whale" chapter LXXXVII - Herman Melville

"Rejetez vos illusions, et préparez-vous à la lutte." - Mao

". . .another case of the famed power of capitalism for recycling everything aimed at its destruction? As Luc Boltanski and Eve Chiapello say, the new spirit of capitalism has put to good use the artistic critique that was supposed to destroy it. If the dense and moralist cigar-smoking reactionary bourgeois can transform him- or herself into a free-floating agnostic bohemian, moving opinions, capital, and networks from one end of the planet to the other without attachment, why would he or she not be able to absorb the most sophisticated tools of deconstruction, social construction, discourse analysis, postmodernism, postology?"  Bruno Latour, "Why Has Critique Run Out Of Steam?" 2003

Трудно быть богом

from The Ways Of The World by David Harvey